The main reason for the delay in publication of this issue of Noesis is lack of
material. My own personal time limitations and technical problems at my end are
responsible only for this issue not having been finished in February. Please send your
contributions to Ron Hoeflin for inclusion in #157.

Due to some confusion at the printer that produced my issues ##152-154, the originals
were returned to me but not a copy of the issues, even though I'm on the mailing list.
Chris Cole supplied me with photocopies, but they're of poor quality. If there's anyone
who doesn't permanently archive his or her copies of Noesis I'd appreciate copies
for my files.

Although we intended that this should be the election issue, I've received only one
candidacy statement (for Administrator) in addition to my own, to continue as an Editor of
Noesis. Therefore, we're extending the call for candidates for society office
(Administrator, Publisher, Editor[s], Internet Officer) for one more issue.

We also have six propositions to be voted on. Propositions 1 through 3, proposed by Ron
Hoeflin, were printed as "Suggested Changes" in Noesis #155. Only the
text of the propositions, and not Dr. Hoeflin's supporting arguments, are reproduced
below.

Proposition 1

The Mega Society has been without an admissions
test for more than a year, I believe. I suggest that my Titan Test be utilized as an
admissions test as a stopgap until and unless some replacement test is found.

Proposition 2

The Society's constitution states in Article 1,
Section 3 that "The name of the Mega Society's official journal is Noesis."
I propose that the journal's name be changed to A Gem.

Because it conflicts with a provision of our recently-adopted Constitution, this
proposition is a Constitutional amendment and requires a 2/3 vote for passage.

Proposition 3

Article IV, Section 3 of the Society's
constitution states that "If a vacancy should occur during the year [in any of the
elective offices], a call for candidates shall be published in the next issue of
Noesis.... The officers, by majority vote, may appoint a temporary officer to serve until
the results of balloting are known." To this I would add: "The office of Editor
shall be deemed to be vacant if, for any reason, the person who holds that office fails to
produce an issue of the Society's journal for any period exceeding three (3) calendar
months, unless the delay is due to the Publisher's failure to send the Editor sufficient
funds for an issue for that period of time, in which case the office of Publisher rather
than Editor shall be deemed vacant.

This is a Constitutional amendment.

Proposition 4

The original form of this Constitutional amendment proposal, in my editorial in Noesis
#152, was:

Members of the Pi Society as of July 1, 2001 shall be accepted into the Mega Society
without proof of further testing.

However, it has come to my attention that we have a problem. Since these discussions
began, three persons have been accepted into the Pi Society via Paul Cooijmans' spatial
test, which has very serious psychometric defects. Therefore, I withdraw the original
proposal and offer the following in its place:

Members who have been accepted into the Pi Society on the basis of the LAIT, the Mega
Test, or the Titan Test, as of July 1, 2001, shall be accepted into the Mega Society
without proof of further testing.

We would like to include the members of Pi on the mailing list for this issue of Noesis,
but Nik Lygeros has not responded to my request for a list of members' addresses. Eligible
Pi members who are interested in running for Mega Society office may submit candidacy
statements contingent on passage of this proposal.

Proposition 5

An Amendment to the Mega Constitution:

The Mega Society Constitution, Article IV, Section 11, provides that:

When there is more than one alternative initiative or amendment on the same subject or
more than two candidates for an office to be voted on (other than Editor), voting shall be
preferential. On the first tally the first-place votes shall be counted. If no candidate
or alternative has a majority the candidate(s) or alternative(s) with the lowest total
shall be eliminated and votes for that candidate [or alternative] shall be distributed to
the remaining candidates or alternatives according to second-place votes for that office
or proposal, and so on. This shall continue until only one candidate or alternative is
left or there is a tie. Ties shall be broken by means of a second round of balloting.

The bracketed phrase is not part of the Constitution. Its omission was a clerical
error. Therefore, I propose that:

In Article IV, Section 11, the words "or alternative" shall be inserted
between the words "candidate" and "shall".

Proposition 6

The proposed Mega logo drawn by Benoit Desjardins, which appears on the covers of Noesis
##152-154 and the present issue, shall be the official logo of the Mega Society.

All comments received on the proposals so far have been printed in this issue. They are
"Chris Cole Replies to Ron Hoeflin's Journal Renaming Proposal," item #10 in
this issue, and my "Reply to Ron Hoeflin on Suggested Changes," #11, commenting
on Propositions 1-3. Additional comments will be printed in #157, and a ballot will be
mailed to Mega members with that issue.

With this election, we'll be using a new voting system. You will be able to vote either
by regular mail, as always, or by e-mail. Each ballot will have a preprinted
authentication number. The ballots will be shuffled and stuffed at random into the
envelopes containing members' copies of Noesis. You can vote using either method
mentioned above, but each authentication number can be used only once.